Tag Archives: Advanced search images

How to Search for Similar Images on Local Machine or Network

Visual Similarity Duplicate Image Finder is a tool that can identify similar photos by “looking” at the image content. Unlike the standard duplicate file finders that look at the file data, this duplicate photo finder compares the actual image content and can identify similar images even if they are stored in different file formats. There is a free demo of this duplicate photo finder that you can download and test.

Searching for Similar Images

1. Once the above application is downloaded and installed the main application windows will be displayed:

Image Search Application

Add the folders that will be searched in the folders list. (1)

Setup the scan method to “Visual Compare”.

Set the similarity threshold to the desired percentage/

Select an existing cache or choose “New Cache” to be prompted for a file name once the scan starts. The cache system dramatically reduces scan time for consequential scans so do not ignore this feature.

Hit the “Search” button on the toolbar. The “Search for Images” dialog will be displayed.(2)

Image Search

Add one or more images that will be searched for.(3) There are also options to clear the list or remove the selected images.

Once the sample images are loaded use the “Search” button to start the scan. (4)

Depending on the quantity of the images, their size, the speed of the storage and the performance of the computer this can take some time. Once the search is complete all the similar images will be listed in the main window with their percentage of similarity to the ones in the samples list.

The images in the list can be located via the context menu, moved or deleted.

Make sure to check the free Folder Size tool which can analyze and display disk usage information and help cleanup disks in minutes.